Wuxi, also named “Liangxi”, is a famous city with a long history in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Three thousand years ago, Taibo, the eldest son of the Emperor Zhouwu in the West Zhou Dynasty came here, set up the State of Gouwu and created the Wu culture. Wuxi,a sparkling pearl of the Taihu Lake , is situated in the southern part of Jiangsu Province and in the middle of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway. It is 128km away from Shanghai with Suzhou in between and 183km away from Nanjing with Changzhou in between. With the Taihu lake in the south and the south and the Yangtze River in the north, it borders Zhejiang Province and has bank of 35km along the Yangtze.
Wuxi is a famous city with a long history in southern china. As early as 3000 years ago (end of 11th century BC ), in order to give the throne to his brother Jili, Taibo, the eldest son of the Emperor Zhouwu in the northern tribe, came here from Shaanxi together with his younger brother Zhongyong and set up the State of Gouwu (now Meicun Town of Xishan city ).By leading the local people to engage in water conservancy,agricultural and sericultural production,
Taibo promoted the combination of central and southern Chinese culture and created the Wu Culture. In the 5th year of West Han Dynasty (202BC), Wuxi County was formally established. The name of Wuxi, literarily meaning “no tin ”, was given due to the extinguishing resource of tin of the Tin Hill. The City of Wuxi was set up in 1949.
It is now a city directly under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province. Wuxi has under its jurisdiction Xishan, Jiangyin and Yixing Cities (county-level ) and Chongan, Nanchang, Beitang, Suburban, Mashan and New Districts. The total area of the city is 4650sq.km. and the population 4.33 million by the end of 1999, of which 1.1 million are in the metropolitan area. As the birthplace of the Wu Culture, Wuxi has a galaxy of evergrowing talented personnel who have made contributions to the development of China’s economy and culture. Key celebrities of Wuxi origin are as follows : Poet Li Kun of Tang Dynasty, Poet Youmao of Song Dynasty, Painter Ni Zan of Yuan Dynasty, Painter Wang Fu and Traveler Xu Xiake of Ming Dynasty, Diplomat Xue Fucheng of Qing Dynasty, Scientists Xu Shou and his son Xu Jiangyin, Scientists Hua Hengfang and Hua Shifang brothers, contemporary and modern revolutionaries Qin bangXian, Lu Dingyi, Wang Kunlun, Yan Pu, Scientists Zhou Peiyuan and Qian Weichang, Economists Sun Yefang and Xue Moqiao, Industrialists Rong Zongjin and Rong Desheng, Writer and Historian Liu Bannong, Writer Qian Zhongshu, Movie Star Shangguan Yunzhu, Painer Xu Beihong and National Musician Hua Yanjun ( A Bin the Blind ), etc.
Wuxi is an important economic center. Early this century, Mr Rong Zongjin and Mr Rong Desheng, representatives of China’s national industrialists, set up a group of industrial enterprises in their hometown, recording Wuxi as a birthplace in the history of China’s national industry. Due to developd industry and flourishing economy, Wuxi is reputed as “Little Shanghai” for half a century. Since the founding of New China, Wuxi’s economy is developing rapidly. And since the 3th Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee and under the guild line of the Deng Xiaoping Theory and the basic line of the Party, the people in Wuxi emancipate their mind in high spirit, grasp the opportunity and have created unprecedented glories in the history of its development. Wuxi is listed as one of China’s 15 key economic centers. It is also one of the 50 cities in China with powerful comprehensive strength, and among 40 cities in China with excellent investment environment. Wuxi has formed a processing system with complete category and powerful support capability. Its key sectors of industry include those of machinery, electronics, light and textile, metallurgical, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. It has also become a modernized industrial city with large scale and high standard along China’s coastal areas. In 1999. The GDP of the whole city was 113.8 billion yuan and its public revunue 8.72 billion yuan. Its per capita GDP supassed 26,000 yuan, which continued to rank the first place in Jiangsu Province.
Wuxi is a regional hub of transportation. With railways, highways, air routes, and waterways, Wuxi enjoys convenient transportation network and connects Jiangsu with Zhejiang and Anhui Provinces. Nine highways connect Wuxi with important cities like Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou. Shanghai-Nanjing Railway and Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway Pass through the city. It is only 2hr’s drive from Wuxi to shanghai-Hongqiao Airport. The Wuxi Airport has opened up domestic air routes and large jumbo jets are able to take off and land there. By relying on the Yangtze, the Grand Canal and the Taihu Lake, Wuxi has 7 waterways which connect different places. The city centre is 40km away from Jiangyin Harbour and Zhangjiang Harbour. Both Wuxi-Jiangyi Expressway and JiangyinYangtze River Highway Bridge have been open to traffic, while Xinyi-Changxing Railway under fast construction. With developed post and telecommunications system, all the telephone exchanges in urban and rural areas are programme-controlled, transmission digitalized and direct calls can be made to 156 countries and territories in the world. The EMS service is established between Wuxi and 27 countries and territories in the world which include those of USA, Japan and UK.
Wuxi is famous tourist resort. The landscape of the city embodies the beauty of the Yangtze, the Grand Canal, the Taihu Lake, fountains, caves and gardens and is characteristic of the unique features of a water village in southern China. Wuxi takes over the most beautiful corner of the Taihu Lake and on the shore of the that Lake scatter famous parks such as Turtle-head Peninsula Park, Lee Garden, Plun Garden and Xihui Park. Humanitarian and historical relics wellknown at home and abroad are all located in the whole city. To name only a few, they are the Donglin College, Native House of Zhang Wentian, Native House of Xu Xiake, Huangshen Fort, Taibo Temple, Taibo Tomb and Memorial House of Xu Beihong, etc. In recent years, the Wuxi National Tourist Resort Zone at Mashan has completed a few large sightseeing and amusement projects such as the International Angling Center, the Moon-bay Vacational Village and the Linshan Scenic Spot. The Wuxi Taihu Film & Television City has built the theme parks such as “City of Europe”, “City of Tang Dynasty”, “City of Three Kingdoms” and “City of Water Margin”. In the past few years, Wuxi is evaluated as one of China’s ten major tourist cities, and early this year, it is listed in the first group as one of “ China’s Excellent Tourist Cities” by the National Tourism Administration.
The dawn of the new Millenium has set in and Wuxi-“the Glistening Pearl of Taihu Lake” will shine even brighter than ever.